President Donald Trump on Thursday returned to one of his favorite targets, attacking online retail giant Amazon over taxes, its effect on brick-and-mortar stores and one other thing that caused some head-scratching.
Trump said Amazon uses “our Postal System as their Delivery Boy.”
That has people wondering: Isn’t the United States Postal Service supposed to be in the delivery business?
It’s in their mission:
“The Postal Service mission is to provide a reliable, efficient, trusted and affordable universal delivery service that connects people and helps businesses grow.”
The USPS says on its website that it’s “the only delivery service that reaches every address in the nation,” and notes that it delivers 47 percent of the world’s mail.
Trump seems to imply that the company’s heavy use of the USPS is, as he tweeted, “causing tremendous loss to the U.S.”
While the USPS has for years been losing money, including a $2.7 billion net loss for the 2017 fiscal year, package delivery is one of the few bright spots.
“That’s actually the solution right now,” former Postmaster General Jack Potter told The Wall Street Journal. “It’s well justified that they deliver those packages, and they make money on it.”
While Trump has attacked Amazon for its use of the USPS before, its contract by law is reviewed and has to be profitable, CBS News notes.
That has people wondering what, exactly, is wrong with Amazon using the USPS as a “delivery boy.”